The Otero County Sheriff's Office arrested 42 people Wednesday on various felony narcotics charges that was part of a six-month undercover operation conducted by the Otero County Narcotics Enforcement Unit, Sheriff Benny House said.

House said OCNEU agents identified a total of 60 arrest warrants issued for suspects in Otero County.

"We will continue to locate and serve arrest warrants on remaining suspects," he said.

All the suspects arrested were jailed at the Otero County Detention Center in lieu of bond pending their appearance in court.

House said all the arrest warrants were based on undercover illegal narcotics purchases in Otero County by undercover OCSO deputies.

"We culminated our six-month undercover operation Wednesday with the attempted execution of arrest warrants for about 60 possible suspects," House said. "The warrants were primarily related to the distribution or trafficking of dangerous drugs."

He said along with Sheriff's Office deputies and narcotics agents, U.S. Border Patrol agents, Alamogordo Department of Public Safety officers, Tularosa Police Department officers, U.S. Marshals and New Mexico State Police assisted with the arrests.

"The various law-enforcement agencies gathered Wednesday at the Otero County Fairgrounds in preparation for the early morning raids," House said. "We broke law-enforcement personnel into teams to pick up these drug offenders.

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A few of the suspects were already in custody or jailed on unrelated charges. Several of the suspects picked up additional charges during the raid."

Otero County Narcotics Enforcement Unit Cmdr. Neil LaSalle said agents and officers seized six vehicles that included two motorcycles along with one possible firearm.

"We also seized small amounts of methamphetamine and marijuana during the arrests on Wednesday," LaSalle said. "Some of the individuals arrested also were charged with drug paraphernalia. We seized empty and loaded syringes, and (smoking) pipes. The undercover operation consisted of undercover agents and deputies purchasing heroin, cocaine, marijuana and pharmaceutical pills."

House said the ownership of the firearm is still under investigation.

"These operations are important to the community," he said. "These undercover operations are important to eradicate dangerous drugs off the streets in our community. Drug users often place the drugs on a higher priority then their family and dependents' welfare due to addiction. They will often steal to support their habit. People addicted to drugs will commit acts that they would not normally do because of their addiction."

House said he believes not all individuals who commit property crimes are addicted to drugs.

"A high percentage of people involved in property crimes have a substance-abuse problem," he said. "Not all individuals involved in property crimes are drug addicts, but a large percentage are involved in crimes. Even though the underlying arrests are drug related, it does affect the community in areas that are non-direct such as property crimes, domestic violence and crimes against children. Basically it affects all these areas in an indirect fashion because of the addictive nature of drugs. In a way, it pulls people away from their priorities."

Reach Duane Barbati at dbarbati@alamogordonews.com
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